


Eros

by Nico4undead



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, solangelo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:34:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25332502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nico4undead/pseuds/Nico4undead
Summary: He looked over at his boyfriend, sitting next to him in the strawberry fields, holding his hand, his golden hair shining in the sunlight, and couldn't help but smile.Will looked over and smiled back."You're in a good mood," Will said, tilting his head in a questioning fashion."Don't know what you're talking about," Nico said, rolling his eyes and looking away, embarrassed."Hahaha I made you blush," Will said happily, beaming."Shut up, I'm the Ghost King, I don't blush, and certainly not because of dorks like you," Nico said, glaring at him, and crossing his hands."Yeah, whatever," Will said, still beaming and getting up. "We've got to get to the head counselors' meeting, it starts in a few minutes, and since this is the last one with Percy and Annabeth, I think we should hurry..." Will said, helping me stand up as well.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 1
Kudos: 66





	Eros

**Author's Note:**

> I kinda got carried away with this fic and sorry for all the fighting... I just love writing battles so much... please tell me what you think, and if I should lay off them a bit hahaha XD

Nico and Will had been going out for about a year now. The best year of Nico's life.  
He looked over at his boyfriend, sitting next to him in the strawberry fields, holding his hand, his golden hair shining in the sunlight, and couldn't help but smile.  
Will looked over and smiled back.  
"You're in a good mood," Will said, tilting his head in a questioning fashion.  
"Don't know what you're talking about," Nico said, rolling his eyes and looking away, embarrassed.  
"Hahaha I made you blush," Will said happily, beaming.  
"Shut up, I'm the Ghost King, I don't blush, and certainly not because of dorks like you," Nico said, glaring at him, and crossing his hands.  
"Yeah, whatever," Will said, still beaming and getting up. "We've got to get to the head counselors' meeting, it starts in a few minutes, and since this is the last one with Percy and Annabeth, I think we should hurry..." Will said, helping me stand up as well.  
Will ran towards the Big House, but Nico shadow traveled there, hoping it would make his smug boyfriend angry. No one was startled by Nico's sudden appearance in the Big House. They had all gotten used to him popping out of the shadows like a mall-nourished boogeyman over the last year.  
Nico sat down on a chair in a far corner of the room and waited for what would happen next.  
A few moments later, a certain out-of-breath son of Apollo burst through the doors of the room and narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend.  
"Oh, so that's how you wanna play? You could have at least took me with you, now I'm all sweaty," Will whined and sat on the armrest of Nico's chair. He proceeded to check Nico's temperature and give him a small piece of ambrosia. Nico had never fully recovered from his adventure with Reyna and Hedge, though he was less prone to fainting and, you know, turning into a puddle of shadows.  
Will gave Nico a worried face, but he just rolled his eyes and smirked, secretly loving the attention.  
They sat there in silence, watching a vicious Ping-pong battle between Connor and Annabeth.  
In a couple of minutes, Percy and Chiron entered the room and the meeting began. They talked about the usual... Clean up duty, capture the flag, monster invasion protection...  
Nico would have fallen asleep if it weren't for Will constantly poking him to make sure he was awake. As the meeting droned on, Nico was getting bored, so he summoned a skeletal cat as a companion. It sat on Nico's lap and purred, a ghostly screeching sound, but Nico just patted in and summoned a few skeletal mice for it to chase.  
Many of the other head counselors chose to watch Nico's little show rather when listening to Chiron drone on about curfew...  
Suddenly though, Annabeth stood up and cleared her throat. That brought back the attention of the campers quickly.  
"As all of you guys know, Percy and I are going to go study at New Rome. This means that we will have to step down and grant seniority to two of you."  
Many people looked intrigued, starting to imagine having the power to boss everyone around. Will just rolled his eyes and reached for Nico's hand. He did not need any type of power. All he needed was his Death boy and the infirmary, and he would be fine.  
Nico smiled up at him, beckoning the skeletal cat to sit on Will's shoulders.  
Annabeth noticed the reaction of many of the other campers in the room and continued.  
"This does not mean that you will just boss people around, you have to run the activities, train other demigods in your fields of expertise, accompany others on quests and so on... This isn't just fun and games..." she said, scowling at no one in particular.  
"Well, then I'm out," joked Connor Stoll and put his legs up onto the Ping-Pong table. Everyone laughed and looked at Percy expectantly. He stood up awkwardly and looked at Annabeth.  
"Ummm, well we kind of talked about who we think would be suitable and came to the conclusion that you should probably figure that out amongst each other," said Percy, smiling and looking lovingly at his girlfriend as she laughed.  
Everyone started to look around the room, when all eyes rested on Nico, who was sitting in the corner, minding his own business. Nico felt all of the camper's eyes on him and looked up anxiously.  
"What?" he asked, confused, as the skeletal cat climbed off of Will's shoulders and into his lap. He scratched it behind the ears absentmindedly.  
"Well, you could be the new senior..." said Katie Gardner.  
Nico raised his eyebrows at her and smirked.  
"Oh yeah, sure... and Connor could be a good judge," Nico said sarcastically, earning a few nervous laughs and a sigh of exasperation from Connor.  
"Dude, I could totally be a judge! Just watch me..." Connor said, a strange twinkle in his eye.  
"Why did you have to go and give him ideas, di Angelo," scoffed Clarisse as she sharpened her spear.  
"We're getting off-topic," interjected Will. "Nico, I think that wouldn't be such a bad idea," he said, and Nico scowled at him.  
"Hey! Don't give me that look!" said Will defensively. " I mean, you've got the most experience, even in your weakened state, you are the most powerful demigod along with Percy, you are an excellent fighter and you know how to make people shut up!" Will said, smiling.  
Nico laughed coldly. "Yeah, only because they're scared that if they don't do as I say, I'll send their soul to the Underworld..."  
There was silence in the room for a bit, and people started to look at the skeletal cat warily as if it was going to attack them.  
"...which I won't," Nico added, sensing the hostility.  
"Well... but Will did make a lot of good points... and does it matter why people listen to you as long as you keep them in order without force?" Butch from the Iris cabin said cautiously.  
Nico cursed under his breath, not knowing how to get out of that one.  
"Sooo... is that the decision?" Percy said, a smile growing on his face. "Nico will be senior?"  
Everyone nodded and shrugged in agreement, and Nico groaned and sank back into his chair. Annabeth came up to him.  
"Don't worry... you Will be great, trust me... and if anything, you can always give us a call..." she said, slipping a piece of paper with a phone number scribbled onto it into Nico's hand, smiling at him warmly and walking back towards Percy.  
"And what about the second senior?" asked Nyssa apprehensively. People started to look around the room once more, eyes landing mostly on Clarisse, Katie, and Will since they had been at camp the longest. Some people also looked at Piper, who was being strangely quiet, but no one wanted to bother her. She was always a bit down when Jason was visiting Camp Jupiter.  
Voicing everyone's thoughts, Chiron said: "When it comes to the right for seniority, after Nico, the next candidates would be Will, Clarisse and Katie due to their veteran status and Piper, and Leo due to their important roles in the Great Prophecy."  
"Yeah, but we have no idea where Leo is half of the time, so I don't think that's going to work out," said Clarisse rather harshly.  
"Well, I would cross you off the list too Clarisse, you would probably make camp into your little slaughter playground," Nyssa said, angry that she had insulted her brother.  
Clarisse had a wistful look as if imagining what it would be like if she was in charge but then shook her head.  
"I'm only here for the spilling guts, I don't need whining kids crawling around behind me, so yeah, I guess I'm off the list," she shrugged and went back to sharpening her spear.  
"That just leaves me, Piper and Will then..." said Katie, looking around awkwardly, as if begging someone to make the choice.  
"Nothing against ya, Katie, but you aren't the leader type of gal, I'd say you are more submissive," Connor said, winking at her. She blushed and looked away.  
"Ahhh, not cool man..." said Butch, whinging at Connor's comment, but he just shrugged and smirked.  
"Aside from that comment... I agree I don't want to be in charge," Katie said, shaking her head and looking at her feet.  
"No pressure, you can just hang with me, throw some spears, mutilate some monsters..." Clarisse said, looking up at her friend. Katie looked mortified, being more on the peaceful side of the demigod spectrum.  
"Ok, ok, enough..." Percy said, and everyone quieted down. "This just leaves Piper and Will. So let's just pick so that we can finally put this meeting to an end."  
Wow, Percy said something smart, Nico thought, smirking to himself. He didn't know whether he wanted Will or Piper to be senior with him. Piper and he had grown close, but she was nowhere near Will... on the other hand, he couldn't imagine how much they would get teased for being the "power couple", whatever the Hades that was supposed to mean...  
Nico felt Will tense next to him.  
"I-I mean, sure, if no one else wanted to, but I mean, I don't know I'm not the leader type, but I mean, if you don't want to Piper..." Will stumbled over his words. He looked so cute and flustered that Nico just wanted to kiss him right then and there, but then immediately snapped himself out of it.  
Piper smiled, "Though as a daughter of Aphrodite, I would love to see you two awkward idiots run the camp, I can see that you would just be uncomfortable. Also, I have my charmspeak, so if anyone needs a talking to, I'll be there... What do you say, Nico?" Piper said in a lighthearted tone.  
"Um, yeah sure, I guess," Nico said, running a hand through his overgrown hair.  
"Okay, then that's settled! Piper, Nico stay behind for a few more minutes, the rest of you can go..." Annabeth said, giving them a warm look.  
***  
Nico plopped down on his bed, face-first. It had only been a week since he was granted seniority, but he was exhausted. Just that day, he had had to dispute an argument between the Athena and Hephaestus cabin, which had escalated to the Hephaestus cabin building a miniature flying replica of Coach Hedge that breathed fire and yelled "Die, Athena, die!" at anything in its path, trying to demolish it with it§s bat.  
Though this was funny at first, it rapidly became less so when it got loose and resulted in twelve campers in the infirmary with mild to serious injuries. Thankfully, he had had Piper there to help him with that one.  
Also, he had had to plan an activity other than Capture the flag, because everyone was getting annoyed that the Athena cabin kept wining.  
Then, he had gotten news from one of the satyrs that there was a potentially powerful demigod at a school in the middle of New York, so he had had to go there with Will, and they just narrowly escaped with the little girl, Nelly, and came back to camp, where she had pestered him with stupid questions such as "So if you are like the child of Hades, do you see in the dark? And do you like caves?" And other irritating questions. Thankfully, he had had Will there to answer the questions for him, sensing that Nico was losing his patience with the little girl.  
As he lay in the bed, he heard a soft knock on the cabin door and heard someone come in.  
"Rough day, huh sunshine?" said Will, as he sat down next to Nico, he was still sprawled on the bed.  
"Ughh, tell me about it..." Nico mumbled into the matters. Will laughed, a beautiful, calming sound, that made the butterflies in Nico's stomach resurrect. He turned onto his back to look at his boyfriend.  
"Well, at least, we're finally alone in peace," he said, looking into Will's sky-blue eyes. He swore he could just look at those eyes forever, but Will laid down next to him, looking up at the ceiling.  
"Yeah, with all those people in the infirmary due to the Coach automaton, I don't think it will last very long though," Will said sadly, interlacing his fingers with Nico's.  
They turned their heads to look at each other, smiling softly.  
"Well... I guess we should make every moment count then," Nico said, scooting closer to Will. (A/N: don't worry, no smut, I'm just a pure cinnamon roll unable to write anything sexual without either bursting into a fit of laughter or dying internally... seriously, the struggle is real...)  
"I guess we should..." Will breathed and kissed Nico gently on the lips. Nico's lips were soft and full as if made for Will to kiss them. They moved closer to each other, the warmth of their body's against each other soothing and comforting.  
The kisses gradually became more passionate as they always did. Nico put his hand against Will's chest, feeling his heart beating rapidly, smiling a bit.  
Suddenly, Will pulled away. Nico gave him a questioning look, and Will's ears turned a bit red.  
"Nico... I was just wondering... I mean, it's okay if you don't feel the same way... I just thought you should know- I mean I would want to if it were me so-"  
Nico cut Will off before he could finish, rolling his eyes.  
"Just spit it out, dumbass," Nico said, making Will turn even redder. He sat up, and so did Nico, swinging their legs off of the bed. Nico looked at Will, his eyebrows slightly raised, wondering what the son of Apollo was so nervous to tell him  
"I-I love you, Nico..." Will said awkwardly, smiling at Nico like the nervous wreck that he was. There was silence in the room for a little while, as Nico processed what he had just heard. Nico's heart started to swell with joy, but he was unable to formulate how he felt.  
Due to the long silence, Will fell back onto the bed, making weird unintelligible screeching noises, something between crying, laughing, and screaming. Nico laughed at the sounds and pulled Will back up into a sitting position, but Will just groaned and leaned on Nico instead.  
"Whyyyyy did I say that... ahh I just made it weird, please don't leave me..." he whined, laughing nervously, burning his face into Nico's shoulder, starting to screech again.  
"Pull it together Solace," Nico said, laughing a bit as he pushed the embarrassed demigod off himself, but Will just curled up into a ball on the bed and started to repeat many different types of "Oh god, why did I say that..." and "ugh you hate me now".  
Nico started to laugh hysterically for the first time in quite a while.  
"Stop moping, you nerd and get up!" Nico ordered in a lighthearted tone.  
Will sat, looking into Nico's eyes, still cringing at himself and making embarrassed noises, while Nico sat there, laughing at him.  
"I love you too," Nico said, still laughing at Will, hugging him tightly. Will hugged him back, the warmth of his body sending a tingling sensation through Nico. He shivered and hugged Will even tighter.  
They both laughed awkwardly, looking at each other as they pulled apart. They were about to dive into another kiss when they heard a knock on the door and a little girl's voice.  
"Hello? Nico? Is anyone there?"  
Nico groaned a bit and stood up, walking towards the door to open it for their guest.  
"Hi Nelly," said Nico in an annoyed voice to a little blond-haired girl, about the age of nine or ten, with hazel eyes and a big smile. She didn't seem to pick up on his tone, and her eyes shined with excitement as she saw Nico in the doorway.  
"Hey, Nico! Where have you been? I was shown around camp by this girl called Kayla, do you know her?" she said quickly, but didn't even let him answer.  
"She is the daughter of Apollo! That is so cool, I wonder who my parent is... Anyway, it's so cool here! When I saw Chiron I was like, Whoa, he's a half horse! And then I got to meet a god! I mean that is just so cool, and the Pegasi... they are so beautiful, I want to ride one. Have you ever ridden one? Probably yes because you are the leader... Can you summon a ghost? I always loved ghost stories, so that would be so cool! And don't even get me started about the cabins... they are the coolest, everything here is so COOL!" she said loudly, and looked at Nico with a huge grin.  
His head was spinning, he didn§t even know where to start, and heard Will laugh behind him. He shot him a death glare, but Will just rolled his eyes and walked over to the door.  
"Hey Nelly!" he said cheerfully, looking down at the beyond excited little girl.  
"Oh, hey Will!" she smiled at him but returned her gaze to Nico almost immediately.  
"Umm, yeah, it§s all pretty cool, but I like the arena the most..." Nico said in a bored tone.  
"The arena? Oh, Kayla told me that I should first find a weapon or something before I go there," her eyes lit up once more. "Maybe you could take me!" she said in such an excited tone, that Will laughed.  
"Yeah, sure, whatever you want," Nico said, shrugging.  
"Cool!" she said and looked at his expectantly. Nico sighed and turned to Will.  
"Well, I guess you should be heading to the infirmary anyway..." he said, a bit disappointed, but Will put a hand on his shoulder.  
"Don§t worry sunshine, we'll see each other at dinner," he said reassuringly, and kissed Nico on the cheek, waved to Nelly, and walked off.  
Nelly stood there, staring at Will walk away, her mouth slightly open. Nico raised his eyebrows and smiled a bit.  
"Anything wrong?" he asked the little girl. She blushed, looking at her feet.  
"Why did Will kiss you on the cheek?" she asked curiously.  
"Well, it might be because he is my boyfriend, but who knows..." Nico said a bit sarcastically, hoping he didn't sound too mean.  
Nelly looked at him, her eyes wide open.  
"Your boyfriend?! Oh! I thought you were just best friends..." she said, sounding a little disappointed for some reason.  
"Yeah, we're boyfriends..." Nico repeated awkwardly, trying to figure out how the little girl was going to react, but she returned to her overexcited manner in a few seconds.  
"Ok! Cool! Anyway, could we go and get me a weapon? I want to fight stuff!" Nelly said, punching the air as if she was attacking something. Nico silently thought that this little girl with a weapon would be even more lethal than the automaton Coach and the real one put together but led her to the armory anyway.  
She followed him closely, taking in everything around her with awe until they finally got to the armory.  
"So this is the armory, you can go through the weapons, see which one feels right, but be careful! Even Will couldn't heal you if you stabbed yourself you know..." Nico said, watching Nelly wade through the piles of celestial bronze weapons. She stopped a few times, examining a small ax, crossbow, and scythe, but moved along quickly.  
Suddenly, her eyes landed on a shortsword near the back. It was one of the finer weapons created here at camp by Charles Beckendorf himself. Nico looked at Nelly, intrigued, as the picked it up. It seemed to light up in her hand. A soft pink glow illuminated the armory, and it was coming from a sign above Nelly's head. It was a sign of a heart shot through with an arrow, the sign of Eros.  
Nico gulped, turning even paler than he already was, and took a step back from Nelly. She looked at him, confused, and noticed him staring at the sign above her head. She looked up and saw it just before she disappeared. She looked ecstatic.  
"Whoa! That is so cool! Kayla told me that would happen sooner or later... But what does it mean? Who is my parent?"  
Nico awkwardly knelt before her, he had been the only one to had seen her get claimed.  
"All hail Nelly, daughter of Eros, the god of love and desire," he said bitterly and stood up again. He knew Eros had planned to claim her like this to embarrass him further and he wasn't having it.  
He was fuming, thinking about that day in Split... and now this. Poor Nelly was looking at his angry face with confusion and fear, thinking she had done something wrong.  
Nico's expression softened, and he explained to her who her father was. She looked bewildered.  
"So... I am the daughter of the baby on Valentine's cards? Cool!" she said.  
Nico silently wondered what was the deal with her using the word cool in every sentence, but let it slide. Her comment on Eros's baby-image made him smile, and he didn't even bother to correct her.  
They walked out of the armory, and Nelly went on about what her powers might be until they finally reached the arena. Nico didn't think he could stand her talking for another minute, so he made up a rule that you had to be as quiet as possible in the arena so that you wouldn't disturb the other campers as they trained.  
When they walked in, Clarisse was training with her electrical spear, cutting dummies apart. Nico decided it would be better for Nelly to observe a fight before he started to teach her a few tricks, so he told her to sit up in the stands surrounding the battlefield.  
"Clarisse!" Nico yelled, and she turned around, a wild look in her eyes.  
"What do you say we show the newcomer how it's done," Nico said, knowing that that would get her attention. People could only summon monsters for practice if they had gotten permission from a senior or Chiron.  
"You sure you're up for it di Angelo?" Clarisse smirked, but Nico knew that Clarisse respected his talents on the battlefield.  
They started chanting, and soon enough, they had summoned a small hoard of telkhines and a giant scorpion. Nico heard Nelly gasp in the stands. The monsters attacked, but Nico and Clarisse slashed through the telkhines with ease. The giant scorpion tried to bite off Clarisse's head, but she rolled to the side and stabbed the monster with her spear in a soft spot underneath its neck. The monster seemed momentarily disoriented, but regained stamina and charged at Nico instead. He was preoccupied with the telkhines, so he summoned a few skeletal warriors to distract them and charged the crustation instead. He leaped up onto it's back and Clarisse took another jab at the monster, hitting exactly the right spot between the monster's outer shells. The monster writhed, and Nico sliced off its tail with ease. Clarisse and Nico both dived down under the monster and stabbed it in the belly, which finished the monster off, turning it to powder. They quickly got up and with the help of the skeletal warriors, finished off the rest of the telkhines in a matter of minutes.  
When they were done, they brushed the monster dust off themselves and examined themselves for any cuts or bruises.  
"Pretty nice spear work out there," Nico commented to Clarisse.  
"Not too bad yourself for someone not a child of a war god..." she said, looking around for any memorabilia from their little battle, picking up the scorpions tail, which was still leaking valuable poison.  
"Wow wow wow wow wow!" Nelly shouted running down to them. "That was amazing! I want to learn how to do that too!" she said excitedly.  
"Huh, a warrior, I like her," Clarisse mumbled, and Nico smirked.  
"You should probably get that tail to the Big House, see if you can salvage something from our little trophy..." Nico said, and Clarisse nodded, walking out of the arena.  
"Who was that?" Nelly asked.  
"Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, the god of war," Nico said calmly. Nelly's eyes widened.  
"Is that why she is so good at fighting?"  
"Well, partly, yes. You inherit some powers from your godly parent, as you know- that's why I can summon the dead for example- but you also have to train very hard to get that good. Clarisse is one of our best warriors, she trains every day... like me." Nico said truthfully.  
Nelly looked a bit disappointed, though Nico had no idea why.  
"Oh, well... because I figured that if my dad is the god of love, then I probably won't be a very good warrior..." she said, wiping a few tears from her eyes.  
Nico had no idea how to comfort her, especially when she was kind of right. Though they didn't have any of Eros's childer until now, the Aphrodite kids were usually more preoccupied with gossip and look than fighting, with a few exceptions like Piper or Selena...  
Nico knelt down next to her.  
"You know, my friend Piper is a daughter of Aphrodite, and she crashed the stereotype of flimsy Aphrodite girls to the ground. She is one of the best fighters at camp... And also, Eros isn't just the god of love, but also desire and passion, so I bet if you are passionate enough about learning how to fight, you will be just as good a warrior as Clarisse."  
Nico had no idea where that speech had come from, but he knew he didn't want the little girl to feel like an outcast because of her godly parent, he had suffered through that and would never let it happen to anyone else if he could help it.  
Nelly suddenly hugged him, and he flinched at the physical contact. He still wasn't comfortable with anyone touching him except Will.  
Nico quickly stood up and unsheathed his sword once more.  
"So, let's teach you how to use a sword..." Nico said, advancing towards the dummies.  
***  
Nico trained with Nelly for about an hour. Many campers came into the arena and listened to Nico, repeating his hand movement. When Piper rushed into the arena to find him, he had a group of about twelve demigods trying to attack him. He yelled instructions on how they could get past his defense.  
Piper cleared her throat loudly, which resonated through the arena and everyone turned to look at her. She had a worried look on her face.  
"Nico... It's the infirmary... you should come," Piper said calmly, trying not to freak the son of Hades out. Nico raised his eyebrows a bit. Will was in charge of the infirmary, he would be able to deal with whatever was happening... he though but then his face paled and he rushed to the Big House as fast as possible.  
When he pushed open the doors of the infirmary, he had to shut his eyes. Nico saw an unknown sixteen-year-old on a bed with light brown hair and slightly elvish features. He was leading and passed out. Will had his hands pressed against the boy's chest and was chanting a hymn to Apollo, glowing.  
Nico wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's shoulder and watched him work. Meanwhile, Piper explained that the guy had stumbled down from Half-Blood hill and passed out near the cabins.  
Will was now glowing even brighter, and Nico could see scars and bruises on the guy's eyes disappear, and he woke up with a start. Will stumbled back, and Nico guided him to a chair.  
"Wh-where am I?" the boy asked, looking around, visibly confused.  
"You are to Camp Half-blood. You are safe," Piper said with a hint of charmspeak, which seemed to calm to boy down.  
"I traveled from Texas... suddenly when I was at school, my teacher turned unto... this thing and I managed to get away... then some guy called me son at Hermes and told me to come here... I don't..." he shook his head, and a single tear streaked down his cheek.  
I looked at Piper, knowing she would be better at explaining everything. She nodded, and Nico helped Will stand and guided him towards the Apollo cabin. Will rested his head on Nico's shoulder like he always did when he was tired. As they approached the Apollo cabin, Will let out a little sigh.  
"No... not there... too loud," he said.  
"Well then, where should I take you," Nico asked.  
Will blushed, "Your cabin?"  
Nico sighed and guided the son of Apollo towards cabin 13. Nico laid Will down on his bed and was about to walk away, when Will grabbed his arm, looking at him, trying hard not to fall asleep straight away.  
"Stay with me?" Will pleaded.  
Nico shook his head and climbed into bed, curling himself up against Will's warm body. Will instinctively wrapped his arms around Nico and started to kiss Nico's neck lovingly. Nico leaned into Will, hoping he wouldn't stop. They curled up into each other and they fell asleep in each other's arms.  
***  
Nico woke up and turned to face the son of Apollo. He was still sleeping, so Nico decided to play with his golden curls. They were too soft to the touch. Nico scooted near Will, intertwining their legs and resting his head on Will's chest, listening to his heartbeat.  
A few minutes later, Will shifted as well and woke up to gaze at his boyfriend.  
"Good morning Sunshine!" Will said cheerily and Nico rolled his eyes.  
"It's probably more like evening... But how did you sleep? You drained yourself a lot healing that kid..." Will smiled, hearing the worry in Nico's voice.  
"Don't worry, I'm okay," Will breathed. Their faces were about an inch from each other. Nico leaned into a soft kiss. He was about to pull away, which Will bit his lower lip. He gasped and Will used this to deepen the kiss. He startled at his boyfriend's intense actions but leaned into the kiss. They sat up and Nico pushed Will against the wall next to the bed, grabbing his arms and pulling himself closer to the blond.  
Will chuckled and let Nico lead the kiss. Nico didn§t know why he did it, but suddenly, he pulled away and sucked and Will's neck, marking him as his own. Will took a deep breath, and when Nico pulled away, they made eye contact. They just looked into each other's eyes, until they heard the Conch horn in the distance.  
"Shoot, I have to lead my sibling to dinner," Will resembled and was about to leave the cabin when Nico called out to him and tossed him a large black sweater that would hopefully cover the mark on Will'slower neck.  
Will smirked.  
"See you at dinner death boy," and left quickly to get his siblings.  
Nico made his way up to the dining pavilion alone until a certain someone caught up with him.  
"Nico! Nico!" a little voice yelled, Nico groaned. "Wait up! I talked to this girl called Piper and she said that they would build my cabin overnight!" Nelly smiled at Nico brightly. Nico nodded and kept walking towards the pavilion.  
Nelly kept babbling something in his ear until she went to sit at the Hermes table. Nico saw the boy from the infirmary talking to his apparent siblings.  
He filled his plate, burned some as a sacrifice for Hades, and sat down at his table. A few minutes later, Will, Piper, and Butch joined him. Even since the war, no one respected the rule of sitting at the table of their godly parent much.  
Will hugged him and kissed him on the cheek, keeping his arm around Nico as he started eating.  
Piper looked at them wistfully, probably missing that kind of contact with Jason gone. She shook her head and started to eat.  
"So, I heard you guys planned something different for today's evening game..." Butch said.  
Nico nodded but didn't specify. Will sighed at his boyfriend's lack of social skills.  
"They planned something similar to a hunt. There are a hundred different spheres hidden in the woods. You can only take one at a time. You have to collect as many as possible. The ones you find right away are for 15 points and they are yellow, ones that you stole from someone else are for 10 and turn blue, and ones that you stole from someone who stole them are for 5 points and turn red. Whoever has the most after two hours is the winner," Will explained.  
Butch nodded. "Sounds good... How many teams will there be?" he asked curiously.  
"Three," Piper answered. "Athena, Ares, and Hermes cabins in charge, because they have the most campers, that are willing to participate," Piper said, rolling her eyes, clearly referring to her cabin.  
"So who is collaborating?" Butch asked, clearly wanting to know which team he would be on.  
Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Iris, Hypnos, Tyche with Ares, Demeter, Hades, Janus, Hecate, Eros with Athena, and Apollo, Dionysus, Nike, Nemesis, Hebe with Hermes." Piper said.  
Will gasped and looked at Nico.  
"We aren't on the same team?" he said sadly, knowing that Nico had the powers to chose how the teams were set. Nico rolled his eyes.  
"Stop being a baby, the teams had to be equal in strength and manpower..." Nico said, but Will had crossed his arms and slid away from Nico, offended. Nico just shook his head, looking exasperated, and started to shove the food down his throat, forcing himself to swallow.  
"Anyway, we should get going to set up the equipment and give the orbs to the nymphs to hide them, Nico," Piper said. Nico happily pushed his unfinished dinner away and looked at Will. He was looking at his plate, still angry, but Nico had places he needed to be, so he walked away with Piper.  
***  
The game was supposed to start in a few minutes when Nelly ran up to Nico in oversized armor, her shortsword in her hand. Nico wasn't in the mood to talk though, he had just had an argument with Will and quickly wiped a tear from his cheek as the daughter of Eros started bombarding him with questions. He wasn't listening to her and looked up at Will, who was laughing with his siblings and that guy from the infirmary. He still had on the sweater under some light armor. They made eye contact for a split second, but Will looked away.  
"... what do you think?"  
"What?" asked Nico, not having a clue what the girl had been talking about.  
"I said, that I have a plan on finding the orbs! We just track down the nymphs that hid them and convince them to lead us to them," Nelly said.  
"That might work, but we can't charmspeak and we can't threaten them either, so how do you want to do that?" Nico asked warily.  
Nelly shrugged. "I'm pretty good at making people do what I want, I don't know if it's because of my dad, but I can at least try..." she said excitedly. Nico nodded and agreed to help her.  
When the game was started, everyone ran off in different directions, scanning the woods for any signs of the orbs. Nico and Nelly sprinted over towards a blueberry bush and shook it. An annoyed-looking nymph materialized in front of them.  
"What do you think you are doing?" she asked angrily. Before Nico could answer, Nelly had started to talk.  
"Oh my, we are so sorry to have disturbed you, goddess! We were entranced by the beauty of your life source, and could not resist," she said. The nymph blushed, and Nico realized what she was doing.  
"Please, I am not a goddess, merely a simple spirit of nature..." the nymph said, blushing.  
"Nonsense!" Nelly said persuasively. "Nico here nearly stumbled, just at the sight of you, anyone would be lucky to stand in your presence."  
The nymph blushed once more and turned her eyes to look at Nico, who stood there awkwardly. Nelly gave him a look, and a soft pink glow radiated from her, reaching the two of them. Suddenly, the nymph swooned and giggled. Nico was confused and Nelly just laughed quietly.  
"Well thank you handsome," the nymph said, batting her eyes at Nico, who stood there, perplexed. "What are you doing here this time of day anyway?" the nymph asked, and Nico grabbed the opportunity.  
"Well, we are looking for these magical orbs, and were wondering if anyone could help us find them," he said awkwardly.  
"Yes, we would be forever grateful to them!" Nelly added, which made the nymph's eyes light up, and she looked at Nico longingly.  
"Well, I could show you! I helped my sister's hide them..." she said, grabbing Nico by the hand, which made him flinch, and ranging him through the woods.  
The nymph led them around the woods, helping them find the orbs one by one. She kept flirting with Nico, which made him feel weird and confused until he realized what had happened. He remembered the pink aura that had Nelly had expelled. She had made the nymph fall desperately in love with him. He paled. If Nelly ever realized she had that kind of power over people's emotions, she could really mess with people.  
Nico decided to keep this thought to himself, and kept struggling along with the nymph and Nelly. They had brought back so many obs already, that they were surely winning.  
As they went back to their base with another orb in Nico's hands, someone tackled him to the ground. The nymph shrieked in surprise and disappeared, while Nelly looked startled, but pointed her sword at their attacker. It was Will.  
Of course, Nico thought bitterly. The smug son of Apollo was the only person that dared to attack the son of Hades.  
"Missed me?" Will smiled as he grabbed the orb out of Nico's hand, got off him, and held out a hand to help him back up.  
"You wish..." said Nico coldly, standing up without Will's help.  
"Don't take that tone with me, Nico, it's your fault we fought."  
"For the last time Solace, it's not my job to make you feel needed!" Nico yelled, and Nelly backed away from him in shock.  
"Not needed, it would just be nice to get some recognition once in a while... Why do I always have to be the one to initiate everything?" Will yelled angrily. "It feels like if I stopped talking to you, making an effort, you wouldn't even care! You would just get on with your day!"  
Nico was ready to answer when Nelly screamed: "That's no true!"  
Will and Nico both looked at her, confused, but then went back to their argument.  
"Why don't you understand that I just need a little space? I'm with you all the time, but even that isn't enough for you!"  
"That's not true! I just wished you showed me you cared!" Will yelled.  
"Stop it, please..." Nelly said clutching her ears. She felt a pain in her stomach, and somehow, she knew how the boys were feeling. She could feel Will's loneliness, and Nico's hurt as they looked into each other's eyes. She could feel the love and passion they felt toward each other, and it hurt. "Please stop," she said, sinking to the ground, but the two of them were too preoccupied to notice.  
"Tell me that if I didn't drag you out of the cabin to socialize, you wouldn't just brood in your cabin the entire day?" Will said.  
"Not everyone likes to interact with people, Will!" Nico yelled back.  
"It's not about that, it's about you. You and your stubborn attitude."  
"Sure, it's always me, isn't it? I'm the problematic child of Hades... If I'm such a pain, why are you with me Will, you would be better off without me!" Nico screamed at the top of his lungs.  
Will turned pale. "You didn't mean that," he said in a hushed tone.  
"Maybe I did," Nico whispered.  
Nelly couldn't take it anymore, she felt the pain of their love crashing onto her, and couldn't take it.  
"Stoooooooop!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, expelling a cloud of energy that washed over the boys. They looked a bit confused for a second, but then Will shook his head, and looked at Nico coldly.  
"You disgust me, I wish you were dead." the son of Apollo said, dropping the orb to the ground and walking away into the woods.  
Nico stood there, looking after him with shock. No, he though. Please let this be fake, please. He looked at Nelly, who was shivering on the ground. She had done this, not on purpose, but still. The one thing Nico was afraid of most, that Will didn't actually love him, was now true. He stood there, feeling empty. There had to be a way to fix this. There had to. He looked at Nelly. Maybe she could, but Nico was afraid that since she didn't have control over her powers, she probably couldn't. He sat on the ground and started to shake. He felt lightheaded and felt tears forming in his eyes, which he furiously wiped away. He heard Nelly get up and try to talk to him, but he couldn't make out what she was saying. He felt her shaking him but didn't respond. He watched her run towards the camp and back to him with Piper after about twenty minutes.  
"Stand up, Nico," he heard Piper's voice order and felt compelled to do as she said. Together, they walked back to the camp.  
The game was still taking place, but they didn't care. Piper took him to the Hades cabin, and using her charmspeak, she made him tell her what had happened.  
He told her everything. The fight, Nelly's power, everything. Nelly looked shocked at the news and started to sob, blaming herself, but Piper comforted her, telling her she didn't do it on purpose.  
When Nico finished the story, Piper and Nelly left his cabin. Nico thought about Will's body against his as they slept, just a few hours ago, and felt a tear slide down his cheek.  
***  
Nico woke up in a cold sweat. He had dreamt of Tartarus. He thought about going to see Will, he had opened up to him about his nightmares and trauma from The Pit and the Jar.  
But then he remembered the events of the previous day and slumped back onto the bed.  
How could one day have changed everything so drastically... only 24hours ago, they were bringing Nelly to camp together.  
Nico sighed. He bottled up the pain and emotion and put on a stonecold face. He quickly dressed and went out into the brisk morning.  
No one was up yet since it was only dawn, but Nico knew that Will would wake up soon enough, so he made his way to the arena.  
To his surprise, he saw a small, blond little girl slashing at the dummies. She used the simple moved Nico had taught her the day before. She was a fast learner.  
Looking at the girl, Nico felt both pain and pity. He knew that what had happened wasn't her fault, but he just wished that it had never happened.  
He walked up to the stands and watched as she tried to perfect a side-slice movement. She noticed him a few minutes later and gasped.  
"How long have you been there?" she asked in awe and blushed. It was strange to Nico that the little girl wasn't afraid of him, but he didn't complain. It was quite refreshing not seeing someone flinch when they noticed he was there.  
"A couple of minutes, you are doing pretty well, keep going," he said, trying to sound cheerful, but failing miserably.  
She put down her weapon and raced towards him, hugging him tightly. Nico flinched but didn't want to be mean to the new camper, so he just sat there as she embraced him.  
"Nico, I'm so sorry! I swear I didn't mean to... you have been so nice to me, and I just made you sad. I've been here one day and all I've done is cause problems. I'm the worst demigod ever!"  
She pulled away and started to cry. Nico didn't know how to comfort her.  
"No... We'll find a way to fix this." Nico said, trying to sound reassuring, but he had no idea how they would do that. No one could know how Nelly's power worked.  
"Maybe... maybe I can fix it" she sniffed, looking at Nico hopefully, but he just kept a straight face. He knew that Nelly couldn't just cast a love aura as she had done on the nymph. That would be fake... she had to reverse what she had done, and Nico wasn't even sure that was possible. He hoped that deep down, Will still loved him... he had to... right?  
He couldn't lose the one person he cared about the most.  
Nico kept a straight face, and told Nelly that they would figure it out, and then proceeded to teach her sword fighting once more.  
***  
As Nico walked to the dining pavilion for lunch, he got many pitied glances, but he ignored them. He just wanted to be left alone until he figured out what to do.  
He sat down at the Hades table, and Piper joined him a few moments later. She studied his stony expression and sighed.  
"Nico, if you keep it all in, you'll just make it worse..." she said gently. Nico looked up at her with distaste.  
"Worse? How could it get any worse? Nelly has no idea what she even did and Will..." Nico choked back a sob. He looked over at the son of Apollo, sitting alone at his empty table. Will looked up as if sensing Nico's gaze. They made eye contact, but Will's eyes had lost that loving light. He glared at Nico and looked back down at his food.  
Nico couldn't take it. He stood up abruptly and excused himself without eating a bite of his lunch. Piper looked at him sadly but didn't try to stop him.  
As Nico made his way back to the arena to teach a class on how to combine your fighting technique and powers, he heard someone yell at him. He turned around and saw the son of Hermes that had come to camp the day before running towards him.  
As the guy reached Nico, he was panting slightly but talked anyway.  
"Um, hey. I'm Jordan, I was wondering... you and your friend Will... Well I just wanted to ask if everything is okay since you know, he saved my life..." the boy said, rubbing the back of his neck. Nico wanted to scream at him to leave him alone, which he would have done if he wasn't a senior camper. He just sighed and shook his head.  
"Will was hit by a very strong amorokinesis shock, the strongest one I have ever felt except... well, nevermind... the point is, he is pretty hostile to me right now, so if you want to thank him, you shouldn't do it through me," Nico said. He thought about the arrow that had gone through him in Split. He started to shake a bit, but grounded himself, not wanting to look weak in front of anyone.  
Jordan looked as though he didn't understand what Nico had said, but nodded.  
"I'm sorry I guess... Anyway, I should probably go do something productive. Any suggestions?" Jordan said eagerly.  
"Well, you could try riding the pegasi or train in the arena..." Nico said in an impatient voice.  
"Oh, okay, I guess I'll just go with you then..." the boy said, walking to the arena with Nico. There were already a few campers waiting for him- Lou Ellen, Nyssa, Cecil, Nelly, Laurel, and Holy.  
They started with a few basic exercises but then moved on to higher-level moves. Soon, Nico summoned a few hellhounds for the campers to fight. He encouraged them to use their powers. Lou Ellen used the mist to make one of the hellhounds think she was standing somewhere else, and as the beast was disoriented, she sent it to Tartarus. Nico told her to come up and watch the others.  
Laurel and Holly were working together to defeat one of the beasts. They were glowing with a golden aura and slashing at the monster, that eventually turned into a puddle of shadows because of all the wounds. They started arguing on who had finally killed it as they joined them in the stands. Cecil and Jordan were teasing the hellhound, slipping away from it at the last second. They were confusing it, and as the monster lost focus, they both stabbed it hard in the belly.  
The only one left fighting was Nelly. Nico had summoned a smaller one for her, and so far she was doing pretty good, but she couldn't use her powers.  
"Stay back!" she yelled as the hellhound charged her. She rolled to the side and took a swing at the monster. She had made a gash, but not nearly big enough to defeat the monster. The hellhound turned to look at her and growled.  
Nico was afraid she would get hurt, but he also didn't want to underestimate her. He had an idea and jumped down to the fighting ground next to her. She gasped and looked at him with awe.  
"Imagine this monster is everything that has ever gone wrong in your life, imagine he is the reason you feel sad. He is your worst qualities," Nico said to the girl and she closed her eyes. She began to glow faintly. Nico distracted the monster and kept on talking to the girl. "Now imagine the monster hurting your loved ones," Nico said, dodging the attack, but not fighting back, leaving that to Nelly.  
"Imagine your friends and family. They need you. They need you," Nico yelled, and suddenly, a burst of warm energy burst from the girl. The energy went through everyone in the arena. It was longing, love, passion. The little girl charged the hellhound, which was whimpering from the burst of positive energy, and stabbed it between the eyes. It melted into shadow, and the girl knelt on the ground, panting.  
The campers in the stands were cheering. She looked up, happy.  
"That's your tactic," Nico said. "Like Lou Ellen had confusion, and Laurel and Holy have confidence, you have love and passion. It is powerful but dangerous. You need to learn how to control the power, or it will result in more... accidents."  
Nelly nodded and smiled at Nico.  
"Don't worry, I promise I will fix it," she said, sounding so confident, that even Nico felt a twinge of hope.  
***  
As Nico made his way back to the Hades cabin after dinner, he was pulled behind the building. He yelped and looked around for his attacker, only to see Will standing in front of him a cold look in his eyes.  
"Will..." Nico whispered.  
"Shut up and listen," said Will, but not in his usual joking voice, this voice was cruel and distant. Nico wanted to run away, he couldn't stand it, but stayed, unable to move.  
"I just want you to know, that it's over. You are a horrible person. You use people. You are a murderer and a criminal. Stay away from me. I hope I've made myself clear," Will said, and with one last disgusted look at the son of Hades, he walked away.  
Nico started to breathe heavily and staggered into his cabin shutting the door behind him. Will was right. He was a monster. It would be better for everyone if he had just died. NO, he told himself. That was not Will. Will is a healer, he would never hurt you. But something in the back of Nico's mind was telling him, that maybe Will had thought those things all along.  
He curled up on the bed. He wanted to cry, but couldn't. He had been holding back his emotions for so long, that they wouldn't come loose.  
Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door. He jumped up. Maybe it was Will, maybe he had gone back to normal, Nico thought, but when he opened the door, he saw Jordan standing there.  
"What?" Nico asked, annoyed.  
"I- well I saw you go into your cabin and you looked pretty shaken up, so I thought I'd come and check if everything is okay," Jordan said awkwardly, trying to assess Nico's condition.  
Nico smiled a bit not to be rude. "I'm fine, just a bit tired, but thanks for asking..." He started to shut the door, but Jordan put his foot there, blocking the way.  
"Are you sure? Because I walked past Will and he was fuming, and you said something about not being on good terms with him right now." Jordan stated calmly.  
Nico cursed himself for telling the guy anything and walked into his cabin, Jordan behind him. When the door closed, Nico turned to face Jordan.  
"Nelly is a very powerful demigod, but in a much scarier way than even me, a child of the Underworld. She can sense and manipulate people's feelings and emotions. And the worst part is, that she doesn't know how to control it. Either she does it instinctively, or it bursts out at times of stress. Imagine someone who could make two people hate each other so much that they killed each other, imagine a person falling so desperately in love that they would never take their eyes off the person again, imagine pure life-consuming passion. She can cause all that and so much more without even realizing it."  
Jordan turned pale. "But, she's just a little girl!" he said, looking terrified.  
"Exactly," Nico said. "I was her age when I first came to Camp Half-Blood. I ran away and learned to control my powers alone, making sure I didn't hurt anyone. I almost killed myself so many times. I just wish she doesn't have to have the same fate..."  
Jordan looked at Nico sympathetically. He bet there was more to the gloomy son of Hades than met the eye. For a split moment, Nico's eyes looked shattered, before his face turned emotionless once more.  
"Is that... what happened to Will? Did Nelly hurt him?" Jordan asked carefully. Nico turned his gaze to the ground.  
"Yes. Will and I were fighting, and I guess she could feel our emotions and couldn't take it. She let out a burst of negative energy... and now Will hates me," Nico said, trying to keep his voice from quivering. Jordan was the only person at camp that didn't know how close they had been, that they had been together... but somehow that made it easier to talk to him.  
Jordan looked at Nico with pity. "But Nelly is learning, today at the arena... she felt under control. Maybe if you taught her how to use her powers, she could reverse it."  
Nico nodded in agreement, maybe... just maybe...  
"Anyway... I should probably get back to my cabin," Jordan said. "If you need anything..."  
Nico nodded, and closed the door behind the son of Hermes, feeling a bit more hopeful than before.  
***  
The next few weeks were horrible. Nico spent most of his time at the arena, teaching one on one and fighting classes, training, or helping Nelly learn to control her powers. The time he wasn't spending in the arena, he spent running the camp with Piper and avoiding Will.  
They hadn't spoken since Will had said those harsh words, and Nico wasn't planning on speaking to him until he found a way to make things right.  
Fortunately, Nelly was giving control. She could already send outbursts and happy energy upon command and was able to use her powers during battle a bit.  
She was very persistent and kept going until she was dragged to her cabin by Piper. Nico had grown fond of the annoying little girl. She always looked at him with admiration and love. It was a pleasant change from the usual.  
She followed him around everywhere, not really interacting with campers her age, but only with Nico and his friends.  
Though Nico's head throbbed from her constant blabbering, he remembered when he was like her... a geeky little kid obsessed with Mythomagic. He wished he had had someone there to guide him, so he was determined to be that person for Nelly.  
***  
Exactly a month after the incident in the forest, Nelly had made a huge step forward in her training. She managed to strike out such a powerful force of passion onto a small pack of telkhines Nico had summoned for her, that they started to look at each other lovingly, unaware of the world around them. The two of them then waded through and stabbed them one by one without them even fighting back.  
"Was that better?" Nelly asked Nico hopefully. He shook his head in agreement and she jumped for joy. "Maybe I can help Will now!" she said happily, but Nico shook his head.  
"You've learned how to control your powers and use them in battle, but not how to influence humans and more importantly, reverse the effect..." Nico said thinking about Will. The sunshiny boy had become secluded and cold. It broke Nico's heart, but he had to keep going, for Will.  
Nelly looked disappointed but nodded.  
They started to walk towards the dining pavilion, when Piper, Clarisse, and Jordan walked up to them.  
"Hey weaklings, you ready for Capture the flag tonight?" Clarisse said, smirking.  
"I suppose that means you want us on your team?" Nico said sarcastically  
"I already drew up the teams if that's alright," Piper said, looking at Nico.  
"Sure thing, partner," Nico said. "So, are you going to tell me?" He said, raising an eyebrow at her.  
"Athena, Hephaestus, Hermes, Apollo, Iris, Hypnos, Dionysus, Tyche, Hebe against Ares, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hades, Nike, Hecate, Eros, Nemesis, Janus," Piper stated.  
"Oh man, I'm not with any of you guys!" Jordan whined, reminding Nico of Will a bit.  
"Well, you're with Butch and Nyssa from the non-sibling campers you talk to," piped up Nelly, running a bit to keep up with the pace of the older campers.  
"That's true..." Jordan said. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys on the battlefield," he said, waving, and hurrying towards the Athena cabin to work on a strategy.  
The rest of them followed Clarisse into the Ares cabin.  
***  
Nico was running through the woods with Nelly as the distraction troops engaged in battle with the other team. Nico led her to a dark corner and shadow-traveled them further on into the woods. His head spun a little, so he nibbled on a piece of ambrosia, and then the team continued to run, when suddenly, they found themselves face to face with a certain nymph, sitting on a stump.  
"Nico!" she said, smiling widely. "How have you been? I haven't seen you for so long! What are you doing here?"  
Nico felt bad for her. Nelly had accidentally made her fall head over heels for him, and he had forgotten about her.  
"Hey... um..." he realized he didn't even know her name and felt even worse.  
"Myrtille," she said, curtsiing.  
"Yeah, Myrtille... we are looking for a grey flag with an owl on it. Do you by any chance know where it is?" Nico asked, feeling guilty for using her.  
"Oh! I don't know exactly, but I saw the campers go that way," she said, pointing to the Northwest.  
Nelly put her hand on the nymph's forearm and smiled softly at her, knowing what she had done to the poor nature spirit. Suddenly, the two of them started to glow. Myrtille gasped and tried to pull away, but couldn't. Suddenly, all of the nymph's aura transferred to Nelly and they went back to normal.  
Nico stared.  
Myrtille shook her head a few times and looked at Nico with a confused expression.  
"Not so handsome now, am I?" he joked, and the nymph blushed. She disappeared, and Nelly laughed.  
"How did you do that?" Nico asked Nelly, astounded.  
"I-I think I just undid my magic," Nelly said, dumbfounded. She had thought about how must she regretted what she had done to the nymph and grabbed her hand. Of course. Physical contact. Nico wouldn't have thought of that since he avoided it as much as possible. She smiled up at the son of Hades.  
"Touch. That's what did the trick."  
Nico's eyes widened in understanding, and the three of them just stood there for a moment, too distracted by what had just happened.  
"Um, weren't we supposed to retrieve the flag?" Nelly asked after a couple of minutes, making Nico snap out of a haze.  
"Oh, right..." Nico said and started to walk towards the direction that Myrtille had pointed in.  
After a little while of walking, they spotted a clearing and about six armed guards. They knew the plan. Nico would distract them with his powers and Nelly try to get the flag.  
Nico stepped into the clearing, and all of the guards looked at him. He raised his arms into the air in a sweeping motion, and about a hundred undead soldiers rose from the ground.  
"Charge!" one of the guards yelled, shooting an arrow at one of Nico's minions. Nico charged as well, he started to duel with Jordan.  
"You've improved," Nico mused. He realized he had sounded like a dad, so he added: "...dumbass".  
Jordan smiled but was only able to distract Nico for a bit before the son of Hades disarmed him.  
"Sorry, not sorry," Nico smirked, running towards the other guards, who had already disposed of about half of the skeletal warriors.  
Suddenly, they heard a yell. Nico hadn't given his minions the command to only disarm, and about ten of them had surrounded a daughter of Hebe. Nico quickly snapped his fingers, and the warriors sunk back into the ground, he went over to help the poor girl up, apologizing, when he was shoved to the ground by someone.  
The wind got knocked out of him and he spluttered.  
"Nico!" he heard Nelly's voice as she ran towards him.  
Nico looked up at his attacker to see Will's angry face inches from his. He was holding a knife to Nico's throat and looking at him with malice.  
Nico saw Jordan trying to pull the son of Apollo off of him, but he was unsuccessful.  
"You wanted to kill her you murderer!" Will screamed at Nico.  
"No, I-I swear it was an accident, I let them go back as soon as I noticed!" Nico said, panic prominent in his voice.  
"Liar! You just knew there were witnesses!" Will screamed.  
The girl came over, trying to push Will off of Nico, tears streaming from her eyes.  
"Will! Calm down! I'm fine... he even tried to help me up..." she said desperately, but Will wasn't listening.  
"You... you..." said Will, breathing heavily trying to find words that described how much he hated Nico. A tear slid down Nico's face as he looked at Will's beautiful eyes... the eyes that once brought him comfort and happiness, now filled with rage and hatred. Will pressed the knife into Nico's neck a bit, drawing a few drops of blood.  
"NO!" he heard Nelly scream as she crashed into Will, knocking him off of Nico, who stood up quickly.  
"Hold him down!" Nico ordered and Butch, Jordan, and the daughter of Hebe stepped up, securing the thrashing boy to the ground. Will looked at Nico with so much loathing, that Nico thought he was going to break.  
Nelly looked up at him, "Should I try?" she asked tentatively.  
Nico nodded and shut his eyes, trying to blink away tears. Nelly put her hands against Will's chest, just as Will had with Jordan, closed her eyes and started to breathe in and out deeply. Will kept thrashing until they both started to glow with a soft pink light. Will relaxed, looking up at the trees. The pink aura around Will dissipated and Nelly started to glow stronger. She pulled her hands away, and the others let go of Will. When Nelly stopped glowing, she yawned loudly, curled up, and the forest floor and started to sleep. Will on the other hand looked like he had just woken up from a nightmare. He looked around confused, shaking his head. Suddenly, his eyes shot wide open and he sprang to his feet. He looked around wildly and spotted Nico. He ran towards him, but Nico backed away, thinking he was attacking again. Will stopped in his tracks, seeing the scared look on Nico's face, and started to breathe heavily and his eyes started to water. He looked straight into Nico's eyes.  
"I'm so sorry," he said and started to sob.  
Nico came up to him tentatively and embraced the son of Apollo. Will grabbed him tightly, clutching onto him desperately as if he saw afraid Nico was going to disappear. He sobbed into Nico's shoulder, and to his surprise, Nico started to quietly cry too, but tears of happiness.  
The others looked around awkwardly, focusing their attention on Nelly. They carried her towards the infirmary, while Nico and Will stood in the same spot.  
Will was still sobbing and mumbling incomprehensible apologies. Nico buried his head into Will's chest and hugged him even tighter. What seemed like only seconds later, they pulled apart, Will's eyes still streaming with tears, but he had calmed down a bit. Will sniffed, wiping the tears off his face, but more kept coming. HE laughed a bit and looked at Nico.  
"I'm so sorry," Will said again, his voice full of hurt and love. "I didn't mean any of it, I don't know what came over me... but the whole time there was this part of me that knew what I was doing wasn't right... it was horrible..." he said, trying to stop himself from crying, but couldn't.  
Nico craved the warmth of Will's body. After a month without him, he would hug that boy for as lost as he possibly could.  
Nico stepped towards Will, interlacing their fingers, and looking him straight in the eye. "I love you. I love you so much and I'm sorry if I didn't show it enough... I realized how much you meant to me when you hated me. It was so painful-" Nico's voice cracked and he quickly hugged the son of Apollo again. Will hugged him back.  
They stood in their embrace for a while, until Will pulled away slightly, looking into Nico's eyes. Though Will's eyes were bloodshot, they were still as beautiful as ever. Will leaned down and kissed Nico gently, wrapped his arms tighter around his torso. Nico leaned into the kiss. He felt butterflies resurrect in his stomach. He had missed his sunshine so much. Their kiss gradually became more deep and passionate. Will tasted like honey and his summer-day-smell was intoxicating.  
Will pulled away and started to kiss Nico's neck as the sun started setting. The game was still going on, but no one interrupted them. Nico gasped as Will playfully bit his lip, asking permission for another kiss. Nico flung himself onto the sun of Apollo, wrapping his legs around his body, kissing the blond fiercely.  
Will was taken aback, but complied to Nico's change of pace, holding him to his body. They kissed passionately until the sun went down, and they heard voices approaching them. Will softly set Nico down on the ground and smiled, his expression saying it all. He loved Nico more than anything in the world.  
Nico stood on his toes and kissed Will on the nose quickly. Then he bolted to the flag before Will could figure out what was happening. Nico grabbed the flag and was about to shadow travel when Will grabbed his hand.  
"You aren't getting away from me," Will said, smiling like the fool that he was.  
"Oh I'm not getting away from you, I'm taking you with me," Nico said, a mischievous light in his eyes as he shadow-traveled them to the other side of the creek. There were still campers fighting, not noticing that the Ares team had won.  
Will and Nico stood there, hand in hand, unnoticed until Nico cleared his throat. Everyone flinched and looked in his direction.  
He didn't say a word and just tossed the flag to a bewildered Clarisse, who had been fighting three campers at once.  
"We won!" Clarisse yelled, which was met by cheering, groaning, and clattering of weapons.  
Nico looked up at his boyfriend. "You want to get out of here?" he asked the son of Apollo, who smiled in return.  
Nico shadow traveled them to his cabin, picking up where they had left off.


End file.
